Improvement in toe-protectors for boots and shoes



Toe-Protectors for Boats and Shoes.

No.153,541. Patentedluly 28,1874.

WITNESSES: J I my: u/ flmiwm I Ag BY TilE GRAPHIC CO. PHO'TU'LITRBSQ! PARK PLAQEJLY.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THEODORE COOK, OF TBENTON, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND J. F. WILLIAMS, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN TOE-PROTECTORS FOR BOOTS AND SHOES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 153,541, dated July 28, 1874; application filed May 1, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THEODORE 000K, of Trenton, in the county of Mercer and State of New Jersey, haveinvented a new and Improved Toe-Protector for Boots and Shoes, of which the following is a specification:

Toe-protectors for boots and shoes, intended to receive the blows which would otherwise fall directly upon the upper or front end of the sole, have been made of different materials, with a raised circular or curved rim, and a skived outa nnledmit, the former project ing (when the device is applied to a boot or shoe) beyond the upper, and the latter being secured between the inner and outer soles. The protectors have been formed from a straight narrow strip of sole-leather, and the welt thereof slitted or notched to adapt it for folding into the required form; or they have been made of a broad plate or piece, and shaped, as required, by means of suitable instruments.

The invention in this case consists in constructing the welt with a dovetail slot to adapt it to contract and expand, and thus lit boots and shoes of different sizes, as hereinafter described.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of my improved toe-protector as applied to a boot, which is shown in dotted lines; and Fig.

2, a plan view of the protector.

A represents the rib for protecting the toe of the upper, and B is the welt thereof, secured between the insole O and the bottom sole 1) for holding the protectors in place. E and F represent the dovetailed notch formed in the middle of the welt, for extending and contracting it to adapt the end portions of the welt to wide or narrow shoe. Shoes cut by the same die vary considerably in breadth by difference in the thickness of the stock of which the uppers are formed, also by varia tions in the lasting, so that if made without the dovetailed notch protectors of a given size would not fit all shoes cut by the same dies. By widening the inner end of the notch in the manner shown, and forming the angles at the bottom, the welt is adapted to stretch and contract in two places and in diverging lines when the end portions are extended. Thus the protector is adapted for different sizes of boot and shoe soles, by reason of the elastic property of the leather aided by the dovetail notchf The device is made of sole-leather, which is reduced to proper shape by suitable instruments.

hat I claim isr The toe-protector formed of the skived welt B, having the central dovetail slot E F and the rib A around its thick edge, as shown and described, for the purpose specified.

THEODORE COOK.

Witnesses:

0. SEDGWIOK, ALEX. F. ROBERTS. 

